Crate for capsule boxes



CRATE FOR CAPSULE BoxEs Filed Nov. 8, 1937 f 1 .llw l' {ef-@- /f/ I Il/I I/ L s 1 /0 1NVENTOR.

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Patented Feb. 18, 1941 PATENT OFFICE CRATE FOR CAPSULE BOXES Frank L.Wachter, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Eastern Box Company, Detroit,Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application November 8, 1937, SerialNo. 173,289

4 claims.

The present invention pertains to a novel box construction forcontaining medicinal capsules of the type that have recently becomewidely known in connection with vitamin-containing oils, such as codliver oil and halibut liver oil. Some of the boxes for containing suchcapsules are provided with a ller forming a number of substantiallycubical compartments of a size to ycontain one capsule each. Accordingto prior methods, the ller is composed of abase or body sheet of paperfolded to provide a number of parallel walls with intervening grooves,and strips of heavier paper crossing and interlocked with v theaforementioned walls, to form cubicles. These paper parts are waxed, asa result of which they acquire a discoloration that gives them anappearance not compatible with nor generally associated with medicinalproducts.

The principal object of the invention is to p-roduce a filler of thecharacter described, adequately waxed but not discolored. The nal colorof the waxed product is a clean white having a waxy appearance withoutany chemical discoloration whatever.,

This object of the invention is accomplished generally by the use ofsulphite paper and, preferably, by chilling rapidly after dipping inhighly rened parafiin wax. It has been found that no discolorationresults from this process. The assembled ller or crate, however, islikely to contain insuliicient wax for the purpose of the device,namely, liquid-proofing, and for this and other reasons is given a finaldipping in wax after assembly.

In this nal dipping operation, a number of assembled fillers or cratesare placed in a wire basket, immersed in hot paraffin wax of a highlyrened grade, lifted and permitted to drain, and cooled at roomtemperature. Another result of the final dipping is that theaforementioned partitioning strips are wax sealed to the walls of thebase member, so that a more durable structure is obtained. Further, thenal dipping covers and remedies any fractures or injuries that may 45have lbeen imparted to the waxed parts during the manipulation thereofin assembling.

The invention is fully disclosed by way of ex ample in the followingdescription and` in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is an endview of the base member of the filler or crate;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal structure thereof on the line 2 2 of Figure1;

Figure 3 is an elevation of the partition strip, 55 and Figure 4 is aperspective View ofthe assembled crate, showing also the conventionalbox structure in outline.

Reference to these views will now be made by use of like characters thatare employed' to designate corresponding parts throughout.

The base member of the crate consists of a paper sheet l scored alongequally spaced parallel lines 2 and 3. The lines 2 are formed on onesurface and the lines 3 on the other surface, the sequencebeing twolines 2 and one line 3, etc. As a result, the base sheet is folded by asuitable die to iorm parallel walls 4 with intervening grooves 5. Theend walls 6, however, are preferably single. The walls 4 are slit at labout half way down from 'the upper edge thereof at intervals somewhatgreater than the longer dimension of the capsule to be contained in thecrate.

The crate is completed by means of cross pieces `or partitioning strips8' of rectangular shape having a length equal to the distance betweenAthe end walls 6 and a height substantially equal to that of the walls4`- and 6. Each such strip is notched at 9 about half way up from thelower edge and at intervals;` equal to the distance between the walls 4.In assembling, the strips are laid perpendicu-.larly across the walls 4and inserted in the slits 1 thereof, the notches 9 receiving the walls.It will be seen that the notches have a substantial width that permitthe double walls to spread and impart to the bottoms of the troughs orgrooves 5 a somewhat rounded or concave conguration that is favorable tothe ellipsoidal shape of the capsules contained in the cubicles formedby the intersecting strips and Walls. I

As already pointed out, the base member and the cross pieces areordinarily waxed and thereby acquire a discoloration that is unsightlyin general and unfavorable for medicinal products in particular. Thisdiiiculty is overcome in the present invention by the use of a Specialpaper stock and a controlled Waxing operation. The base l is a sulphitesheet of approximately 90 pound stock, that is, weighing 90 pounds to aream of 24 X 36 inch sheets. The sheets, before being scored and shapedas in Figure 1, are waxed in the usual manner, except that a highlyrefined parafln wax is used, and the chilling is preferably carried outquite rapidly. The original sheet is a pure, clean, white and of ratherheavy weight. The result of the operation described is a waxed basesheet having a clean and fairly whitish appearance withoutdiscoloration, either immediately or after an extended period of time.

'I'he cross pieces 8 are of a thickness to maintain stiffness inordinary handling. They consist also of solid sulphite stock and arewaxed on both sides with highly refined paraiiin Wax. As in the case ofthe base material, the strips are also preferably chilled rapidly o-nremoval from the mol-ten wax.

By means of suitable dies, the waxed base sheet is scored and shaped tothe form shown in Figure 1. Next, the cross pieces 8 are inserted in themanner already described. The crates thus assembled are placed in a Wirebasket and given a iinal dipping in highly reiined paraiiin wax. Onwithdrawal from the wax, the crates are permitted to remain in .thebasket and to drain into the receptacle `of Wax while cooling at roomtemperature.

The fina-l dipping operation leaves a light deposit l of wax at theintersections of the walls 4 and cross pieces 8, whereby these parts areadditionally secured `together to prevent particularly lateral sway ofthe walls. Also, .any deficiency of Wax deposit in the waxing operationbefore assembly is supplied in the nal immersion. Complete waxing orliquid-proofing lof the base member is important, since the generalobject of the construction is to prevent the owing of a broken capsulefrom groove .to groove and through the bottom of the base member.

Inasmuch as the crate is assembled partly .by hand, fractures in thewaxed surfaces are likely to occur. Such fractures are remedied by thenal Waxing operation which, moreover, imparts a clean and finishedappearance to the crate and removes any evidence of a manual handling.

The assembled crate may be placed in a cardboardl box of exactly thesame size. In many cases .the box itself is larger than the crate, andsuch an instance is illustrated in Figure 4.y Here the box is indicatedby thenumeral Il, and the excess space is taken up by iil-lers l2.

Although ythe invention has been described with some particularity forthe purpose of cl-earness and Ii'llustration, it will be understood.that variations in the described .process may be made Within the scopeindicated by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A capsule crate [of the character described comprising a base memberof waxed paper folded to form parallel walls and intervening channels,parallel cross pieces of waxed .paper intersecting and interlocked withsaid walls to form cubicles, and an additional continuous coating of waxlover said base member and cross pieces forming sealing deposits at theintersections of said Walls and cross pieces.

2. A capsule crate of the character described comprising a base memberof sulphite paper treated with highly refined Iparaflin Wax and foldedto form parallel Walls and intervening channels, and parallel crosspieces of sulphite paper treated With'hi-ghly refined .paraffin wax,intersecting and interlocked with said walls to form cubicles, and anadditional continuous coating of Wax over said base member and .crosspieces forming sealing deposits at the intersections of said Walls andcross pieces.

3. The method of forming a capsule crate of the character described,'consisting in treating a sheet of sulphite paper with molten highlyrefined paraffin wax, folding said sheet to form parallel Walls withintervening channels, treating strips of sulphite paper with moltenhighly refined paraiiin Wax, and interlocking said strips with andacross said walls to form cubicles, and giving the assembled structure afinal dipping in highly refined yparaffin Wax to form a continuouscoating lining said cubicles.

4. The method of forming a capsule crate of the character described,consisting in treating a sheet of sulphite paper with molten highlyrened paraffin Wax, `chilling rapidly, folding said sheet to formparallel wal-1s with intervening channels, treating strips of sulphitepaper with molten refined paraffin Wax, chilling rapidly, andinterlocking said stri-ps with and across said Walls to form cubi-cles,and giving the assembled structure a final dipping in highly rened.parafin wax to form a continuous coating lining said cubicles.

FRANK L. WACHTER.

